It is known in the prior art to apply product identification to cartons, packages and the like, often by means of application of a bar code or other such identification system.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) has developed as a technology for identifying packages, to facilitate their tracking and to more readily determine the information that has been applied to the package.
Typically RFID technology includes the placement of a tag in the form of a microchip with an antenna on the package, such that the microchip can be encoded with information via the antenna, so that one can subsequently use a reader to read data off the microchip. Typically, the technology uses radio waves.
The RFID tags (or transponders) can either be of the active RFID type, or they can be of the passive RFID type.
Active RFID systems are ones in which the chip sends out a signal when it approaches a reader. Typically, such active systems must employ batteries, but being active systems, have a wide range, but generally are more costly than passive RFID systems.
Passive RFID systems employ tags with no power source and no transmitter. However they do employ a microchip and an antenna, to which the microchip is electrically connected.
Because passive tags operate at generally lower frequencies, and because they do not employ batteries, they have limitations on the distance at which they can be read from a reader. However, because they are less costly than active systems, passive tags can be used to tag packages or other items, and eventually discarded.